Media Advisory: Why is Vic electioneering in southern Ontario?

Media conference tomorrow 11 a.m., new post card aims to get attention of local MPP

NORTH BAY, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 21, 2014) - Like an episode of the cartoon Where's Waldo, there have been sightings of Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli all over southern Ontario dogging Liberal campaign events. But hospital workers trying to stop a 59-bed cut at the North Bay Regional Health Centre (NBRHC) think Fedeli should be sticking closer to home and working on keeping services, beds and jobs from being slashed at the local hospital.

Why is Vic electioneering in southern Ontario following the Liberal leader around? Asks Shawn Shank who is president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 139, representing over a 1000 hospital staff at NBRHC. "He should be here at home working for the people of North Bay. We need an MPP who is an advocate for extra funding for our hospital so there are no more bed and service cuts."

At a media conference tomorrow (Thursday May 22 at 11 a.m., 120 Lakeshore Drive) Shank and Ontario Council of Hospital Unions president Michael Hurley will announce a first step in their community campaign, a post card aimed at getting the local MPP to speak up against the cuts devastating care quality at the regional hospital.

Recently media reported that Fedeli met reporters outside a Brantford area cattle farm where the Liberals' Kathleen Wynne had just completed a campaign pit stop focused on promises for rural Ontario and farmers.

"If Fedeli insists on following around the Liberal leader, perhaps he could take a bit of time to put in a good word for the North Bay hospital and ask for badly needed funding to keep beds and services open," says Hurley.